Swartz Creek senior DJ James is tackled by Fenton juniors Johvi Reynolds (left) and Matt Cuber (right) during the military tribute high school football Game of the Week in Fenton on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012. (Griffin Moores | MLive.com)

Last season the league ended in a three-way tie for first, this year it’s guaranteed that two teams will share the title.

“The Metro League is good football,” Fenton coach Jeff Setzke said. “We put four teams into the playoffs last year and it’s a dogfight. The way the schedule worked out, we had Linden first and on the back end we had the two other top teams (Swartz Creek and Lapeer West).”

While all four teams have shown flashes of how good they can be, Fenton is suddenly the hottest team in the league and proved its worth in a big way Friday. The Tigers haven’t lost since Week 1, a 17-15 defeat at Linden, and they’ve been near perfect since.

“It’s tough to go undefeated, in any league,” Setzke said. “I’ve been a head coach for 17 years and I’ve done it once. Each week, to get yourself up and ready to play at your best is tough. I think that’s why a lot of times you’ll see really good teams who ended up with just one loss, but that also reflects overall on the competitiveness of this league because it’s just a grind.”

Swartz Creek learned the hard way how quickly things can change. The Dragons were undefeated with one of the state’s most effective offenses and riding high after clinching their first playoff berth in school history. Then came Friday night, and everything went haywire.

Swartz Creek’s usually tough defense was dragged up and down the field trying to keep up with Fenton’s speed. The Dragons’ offense, while still able to move the ball, was hampered by uncharacteristic mistakes. Quarterback Jaylen Schoenfield entered the game with just six interceptions on the season, but through five more against Fenton. He was also hit repeatedly, which has been a rare occurrence this year.

“We’ve got to have a short memory and understand that we still have a chance (at a league title),” Swartz Creek coach Brad Brown said. “There are a lot of great football teams in this league and just to be mentioned is really nice. I’m proud of my players because they never gave up, played hard the entire game when they could have bailed on each other. They didn’t do that so that showed some character. We’ll just have to regroup and try to bounce back next week.”

Linden is also rolling. After losing 13-10 on a game-winning field goal at Lapeer West Sept. 21, the Eagles have scored 40-plus in three straight blowout wins -- the latest being a 49-0 trouncing of Lapeer East Friday.

“We just have to regroup and learn from our mistakes,” Brown said. “I think we can bounce back. We moved the ball well, just had some interceptions and some miscues, but I think the ability is still there. We’ll go into next week knowing what we’ve got to do and we’ll see what happens.”

Each team has its strengths, but none have dominated the way Fenton has. The Tigers have scored 50-plus points in three straight games -- a record-setting stretch for the school -- and have averaged 44.7 points per game since the loss to Linden.

“We’ve played in a lot of big games over the past few years and that experience prepared us well for a game of this magnitude,” Setzke said in reference to handing Swartz Creek its first loss. “I think we proved tonight to everybody that Fenton is a good football team. For six, seven weeks now all we’ve been reading about is Swartz Creek and to their credit they were undefeated and sitting atop the league, but this was our opportunity.”

Opportunity being the key word, because it’s something four teams still have entering the regular season’s final week.